It is common for retail stores to have hand baskets available as a courtesy to their customers for carrying groceries or other items being purchased. Shoppers tend to appreciate the convenience of these hand-baskets, particularly when they do not wish to use large shopping carts. However, hand baskets are often uncomfortable and sometimes even painful to use when heavily loaded.
Hand baskets commonly used in retail settings generally have a rectangular crate-like construction. These baskets usually have one or two pivoting handles which are attached to the long sides of the rectangular basket and extend over the opposite sides to permit stacking. The handles are usually thin strips of wire or plastic, often having a small diameter or a sharp edge which can cut into or pinch the hand, making them uncomfortable to grip and carry as the baskets become filled and heavy.
Most handles do not provide proper balance for carrying a shopping basket. The manner in which these handles are attached to shopping baskets, the long moment arm of the load, and the small diameter of the grip allow the basket to pivot and sway when the shopper is walking, which may cause items to shift in the basket or spill from it. Fragile items within the basket may be damaged if shifting causes impact against a hard surface.
When a basket is carried, and particularly if it is permitted to swing because of the handle design, the edges and corners of traditional rectangular baskets impact the user's body. Because the length of these handles is largely dictated by the size of the basket (as the handles must fold completely out of the way to allow stacking), these baskets often hang low and impact the user's legs in the knee or upper shin area.
When a heavy load is carried in such known baskets, a considerable torque is placed on the user's back, elbow and wrist. The orientation of the handles on existing shopping baskets tends to twist and lock the user's elbow in an uncomfortable position, typically with the palm of the hand facing fore or aft, rather than the more natural position of the palm turned inward facing the user's body.
In addition to the problems related to handles, the traditional shopping baskets are not ergonomically shaped, generally having straight sides which do not conform to the curve of a user's body. If the basket is held close to the body, the straight rigid sides make the baskets awkward and uncomfortable to carry and walk with.
Some attempts have been made to address the deficiencies and uncomfortable nature of these hand-baskets and shoppers' displeasure with them. Some have fit pieces of tubing, foam, vinyl, etc., over the grip portion in efforts to make the handles less painful to hold. These attempted solutions only slightly increased the diameters of the handles, did little to decrease pinching between the two handles, and completely failed to address the many other problems (such as handle length, shape of the basket, point-of-contact with the body, swinging, etc.). Baskets with traditional plastic handles also tend to break at the pivot points where the handles connect to the basket.
There is a need for a hand-held shopping basket that is comfortable for a user to hold and carry.
There is a need for a hand-held shopping basket that has a handle of proper thickness and orientation that is comfortable for a user to carry.
There is a need for a hand-held shopping basket that is shaped to conform to the body of an average adult human, allowing for comfortable walking while carrying the basket.
There is a need for a hand-held shopping basket that allows a user to comfortably hold the weight of the user's groceries closer to the user's body to decrease torque on the user's back, and with the palm turned inward to decrease torque on the user's elbow and wrist.
There is a need for a hand-held shopping basket that has a dividing element projecting from the bottom surface, decreasing the tendency of heavy items to slide around in the basket.
There is a need for a hand-held shopping basket that can be stacked neatly and easily, without the need to fold away handles that may otherwise obstruct stacking.
These needs may be satisfied by a novel basket of the present invention.